


Hope

by youngandbitchy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Sam Wilson, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Drama & Romance, F/F, Falling In Love, Family Dinners, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, I Love You, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Reader-Insert, Romantic Fluff, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 09:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngandbitchy/pseuds/youngandbitchy
Summary: Ava meets your father for the first time.





	Hope

Ava Starr wasn't one to talk much or laugh... which is why, when it came to meeting new people, she could come of as intimidating. But when it came to you, she could talk and laugh for hours, something that even shocked her.

Although she preferred listening to you ramble about the things that you loved, you wanted to listen to her too.

Mutual listening: that's how you came to be in a relationship.

Now, the two of you were in your bedroom, getting ready. Ava's nervousness poured out of her, you noticed in her fidgety fingers and accelerated breathing. She stood in front of the mirror of the dressing table, putting on an earring.

You approached the table to grab yours. “It's my dad,” you stated, “not the president.”

“Please, the only reason I'd be anxious to meet that arsehole is to punch him in the face,” Ava replied.

You rolled your eyes and offered her a smile. You kissed her shoulder. “It'll be fine. Bucky and Sam will be there to buffer in case the occasion requires so,” you explained.

“It will require so,” Ava assured you.

“(Y/N)!” Steve called your name from downstairs. “Buck and Sam are here!”

“Coming!” You answered and looked back at your girlfriend. “Ready?”

“Not even close.”

You turned her around with your hands and she sighed when she met your gaze. You kissed her on the lips, softly and your hands went to her cheeks to try and calm her down.

When the kiss ended, your foreheads remained together. “Better?”   
  
She nodded. “Yeah.”

Ava's anxiety was through the roof, but as she held your hand, she knew that things could never get too bad if you were by her side.

You and Ava went to the living room and found your dad greeting Bucky and Sam, the latter with a kiss.

“Hey, (Y/N), when is— Oh.” Steve noticed Ava's presence. “You're already here. How...?”

“She can go invisible, remember?” You reminded your dad.

“Oh! Right, yeah. I forgot.” He stretched his hand towards her. “It's nice to see you again, Ava.”

Ava took his hand. “You too, Captain Rogers.”

You greeted Bucky and Sam. “Hey, guys.”

“How are you kid?” Bucky asked you.

“Good.” You grabbed your girlfriend's hand. “This is my girlfriend, Ava.”

 _Girlfriend_. Ava couldn't get used to that word, and her heart skipped a beat everytime he heard it come out of your mouth. She was the girlfriend of this amazing human being, and she wondered every day how she got so lucky.

Ava nodded and shook Sam's hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said, and hoped Sam didn't notice the thin layer of sweat in her palm.

She shook Bucky's hand next. “(Y/N) has talked a lot about you,” Sam informed.

Ava smiled. None of the men in the place had ever seen Ava smile, since she was always a beast in the battlefield. But it came so easy with you. She couldn't help but smile.

“You mean she's all she talks about?”

Ava longinly stared at you. “Okay, that's enough. Stop embarrassing me.”

“We're just getting started,” Bucky stated.

“Okay,” Steve interrupted. “Dinner is ready, so... why don't we head to the table? Babe, come help me.”

“Sure,” Sam replied.

When you two were alone with Bucky, he stepped closer to Ava and said, “Piece of advice?” Ava nodded. “If you don't know something, make it up.”

Bucky left an anxious Ava behind as he walked towards the table. You held her hand, and she offered you a nervous smile.

* * *

“So, Ava,” Steve talked to your girlfriend and she lifted her sight from her food. She held your hand underneath the table. “What have you been up to?”

Ava gulped. “Well... I'm taking a break from my... other line of work. And after SHIELD utilised me for years on end without caring about me, they figured paying my expenses for the next five years would make up for it. I'm attending the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice in September.”

You looked at your girlfriend and gave her a reassuring squeeze in her hand, pride scribbled all over your face. “And you don't plan on going back to the job? As far as I'm concerned, Tony offered you a position in the Avengers.”

“Dad!” You muttered.

“It's okay, love,” Ava said to you. “Mr. Stark offered me an honorary membership and, if I'm honest with you, the world doesn't need a somewhat mentally stable invisible woman trying to fix her mistakes.”

“I'll drink to that!” Sam exclaimed and raised his glass in an attempt to lighten up the room.

It didn't work.

Steve gulped. “...Isn't mental stability a requirement to be in a relationship?”

Ava's breath hitched in her throat and for a moment she believed she'd pass out. “Dad, don't you suffer from PTSD?” You asked your father. “Doesn't Sam? And Bucky? Sorry to bring you into this guys.”

Bucky dismissed the statement with a wave of his hand as Sam gulped the rest of his wine. “Non-taken.”

“I don't think mental stability is something you can afford in your line of work. You can... only try to take it easy and be patient.”

“And that's exactly why I didn't let you into the job: because it's hard. Everything is twice as hard, and now you're telling me you're going through with Ava what I tried to keep from you?”

You clenched your jaw. “Babe, let's go.”

You pulled from your girlfriend's hand to get her up from the table, and she walked behind you in a rush as you escaped from the dining table.

Your dad called behind you, “(Y/N)!”

* * *

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose while he laid against the cupboard. Sam cleaned the dishes and Bucky drank a cup of coffee, all in silence.

“So...” Sam dried his hands. “That was a disaster.”

“I thought you said you'd give her a chance,” Bucky said.

“I know, I know...” Steve sighed. “I just... I don't want my daughter dating someone that understands the job. It's too much responsability.”

“You're dating me!” Sam stated.

“Yeah, but we've both been there. I don't want her to...”

“You don't want me to be a burden on her.” All men turned their faces to Ava's figure. She stood in front of them, the ends of her sleeves trapped inside her hands. “Is that what you were going to say, Captain?”

Bucky's jaw dropped. The men looked at each other. “Ava, I...”

“No, it's... I...” Ava stared at her father-in-law. “Can I say something first?”

Steve nodded. “Sure, yeah.”

Ava sighed. “Something I love about your daughter is that she knows. She knows when something is becoming too much for her, or too hard, or too toxic. And when she knows, she drops it. When she knows not to give something a second chance, she just... doesn't work on it. And every morning since I've been with her, I expect a break-up text or... expect for her to be gone out of my life.

“When I get insecure about it, she says: relationships take effort. Which is why I work hard, every day. I work every day to be the person we know she deserves... because, if I'm honest...” Ava sighed and her hands plopped next to her sides. “I love her too much. I love how kind and patient she is. I love how the effort doesn't feel hard at all, it just... flows naturally out of  me. Because of her. And I'm not here to tell you I'm going to break up with her because, well... I don't want to, but I'm here to tell you that, as long as I'm with your daughter, I'll make the effort to be that person for her.”

...And behind her, you stood.

“You love me?”

Ava turned around to see you, tears in your cheeks and some brimming from your eyes. Ava nodded. “Can't you tell?”

You snorted and you wiped a tear from your eye. “I love you too,” you admitted and sobbed with a smile on your face. “I love how intimidating you are with people that try to be mean to me, I love how soft you are when you watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I love that thing you do with your fing—“

“Okay, okay!” Sam exclaimed. “Let's keep it PG, okay? That's...” Sam sighed. “Damn, (Y/N). You got yourself a good one.”

You nodded, looking into your girlfriend's eyes. “I know.”

“And I agree,” Steve replied. You both looked at him and he approached you. “I love that about my daughter too, Ava. That I can trust her to make the right decisions.” He put an arm around you. “And I know that if she decided to date you, it's because it was the right call.”

You grinned at him. “Thanks, dad.” You kissed him on the cheek.

“It's fine.”

Sam smiled. “As much as I hate to interrupt this moment—“

“Then don't,” Sam interrupted him.

“I'm starving, so... can we order something?”

“Yes, please!” You pecked Ava on the lips and went to Sam and Bucky.

You pulled out menus from a drawer as Steve said to Ava, “Welcome to the family, Ava Starr.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Please, call me Steve.”

Ava nodded as excitement rose inside her. “Steve.” And as Ava and Steve approached Bucky, Sam and you, Ava said, “Can I call you Cap?”

“Nope.”

“...Capi?”


End file.
